Tag: job search

I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but I am still amazed at the number of students, especially in library school that do not understand that applying for jobs is hard work and might as well be a part time job. So much of this will sound redundant or obvious to those who know what they’re doing, but I have been asked by a few people before what I’m doing to get jobs, so here are all my “secrets” spilled. Continue reading “Applying for Jobs is a Job in Itself, seriously.”

For one of my management assignments, I decided to do a job analysis of the current job opportunities.

Purpose

Looking at the various aspects of the job postings to look at where and what opportunities are available as well as what is being looked for.

Methodology

Collected all systems related librarian positions which were primarily either systems or web services from September 1 to October 15. I collected 19 job postings and tallied the various aspects including skills and areas of knowledge required and preferred.

Results

The Basics

Jobs were primarily in academic libraries (17 of 19) and a majority were permanent full time (13). The job subareas and titles differ, but were generally broken down in this way:

Systems & Technical Services

2

Systems

8

Web Services

11

User Experience

1

Jobs were also generally in the East.

Canada

United States

West

1

West

4

Central

1

Central

2

East

4

East

7

Finally of the salaries that were listed the average minimum of $49,000.

Education & Work Experience

No surprise that every single posting required: MLIS degree from ALA accredited school or equivalent.

Most required or preferred at least 2 years of experience, and preferred but did not usually required experience within the area of hiring.

Note that the “type” is an indication of whether the experience needs to be in the same type of library (e.g. academic library by posting from academic library).

Duties

Many positions included non-technical related duties. The top two:

Reference – 37% (7)

General/Student Instruction – 26% (5)

Technology Related Skills & Areas of Knowledge

As the majority of the positions were web services related, there was a bit of a bias towards skills that are web related, but generally for systems, I simply found that there were less specific technology requirements and it was also more diverse. The top technology related required skills & areas of knowledge:

HTML/XHTML – 58% (11)

Web Development/Design – 47% (9)

CSS – 42% (8)

Standards & Best Practices – 37% (7)

Emerging Technologies, Trends, & Issues – 37% (7)

Usability/User Experience – 32% (6)

JavaScript – 26% (5)

As I said, the range was wide and included everything from server administration to proxy to analytics.

General Skills & Areas of Knowledge

What might (or might not) surprise people is that the top required skills and areas of knowledge were general in nature and not technology related.

Communications & Interpersonal – 95% (18)

Collaboration & Teamwork – 84% (16)

Project Management, Planning & Organization – 68% (13)

Problem Solving & Analysis – 58% (11)

Work Independently – 47% (9)

Leadership – 26% (5)

Flexible & Creative – 26% (5)

If anything, I think this trend is encouraging for new graduates as it seems that “soft” skills are more important than the technology/technical skills which frankly, many of us just do not have the opportunity to learn in library school, but with some tech savvy would be more than willing and able to learn on the job.

Limitations

There are some obvious limitations to my analysis. For one, some job postings were no longer accessible as they were closed, which meant that they were not included. For my purposes, I also left out all management positions, such as AUL and director positions.

Another issue is that how qualifications were grouped was very subjective on my part, so may not have been consistent. For example, planning and organization was grouped with project management, but results would have been different if the three had been kept separate.

Possible Future Work

It would be interesting to see what the trends are in general rather than only looking at systems positions, but that would be a much larger effort.

Hopefully this information is useful for anyone else in North America interested in systems related jobs.

Was going to post this sooner, but been sick. As I begin to look for jobs, I have amalgamated a fair list of RSS feeds that I thought would be useful for. This will be copied over to the Resources page.

Getting Hired in Higher Education is an annual event organized for SLAIS students to hear, get advice, and ask questions about looking for, finding, and securing a job as an academic librarian. This year’s event was well attended (we had a full room!) and it seemed very appreciated.

This year, we had a larger panel with five academic librarians:

Aleha McCauley (University of British Columbia)

Annie Jensen (Langara College)

Emma Lawson (Langara College)

Danielle Winn (University of British Columbia)

Baharak Yousefi (Capilano College)

Panelists introduced themselves talking about their educational background, a little about the positions they currently hold, and primarily about their path towards their current job. I will not summarize everything, but will instead, concentrate on the advice they gave and the Q&A session.

While in School

Classes

More specifically, while at SLAIS, students were advised learn more about:

project management,

communications, and

assessment & program evaluation, especially the impact of a program/service.

and take classes that are skill or project based. Some specific classes that were mentioned:

Subject-Based Information Services (LIBR 530)

Collections Management (LIBR 580)

Instructional Role of the Librarian (LIBR 535) – particularly needed in academic

Building a professional online presence – employers will search for you

The Job Process

Searching & Applying for Jobs

Other than experience and involvement, employers look for:

good communication skills,

problem solving – i.e. how you work through problems, how you express yourself around change, and

interest in technology, especially web technology and social media.

To search for jobs, it is recommended to get RSS feeds to save time on searching.

Resumes & Cover Letters

Students have probably heard all the usual advice on format, keeping to the job description and such, but some other interesting points came up during today’s discussion:

Personality: to include or not? – Mixed advice was given to the librarians on how much to include. One mentioned that she began to get more interviews and job offers after including more of her personality, while another was told to tone down the personality as that will be seen in their web presence

Get it proofread by other people

Read more job descriptions to get a feel for the vocabulary used and what is expected

Question & Answers

Here’s what came up during the Q&A session:

Q: How would you answer “Why are you interested in this division/organization?” A: draw on the posting, research the institution, but be yourself and answer honestly. Aside: You might consider using university colours in the presentation.

Q: What was the most difficulty question you have ever been asked? A: Specific research questions, but mostly, they want to know how you would deal with it.

Q: What are the best continuing education options, especially when lack time or money? A: Instructional opportunities, webinars (a library webinars blog was mentioned), grants (to go to conferences, etc.). Most positions come with professional development funds. Something you might ask about at the interview or when negotiating salary.

Q: Can you do a co-op and GAA at the same time? A: Yes. You can schedule it so that you do both at the same time, or consider leaving your GAA position.

Q: Is it possible to leave a contract for a permanent position? A: Yes. Talk to your supervisor, and they will generally be very understanding that you must leave mid-contract if you are accepting a full-time, permanent position.

Summary – The Top 5

In case you found that a lot to digest or just too much to read at once, here are the top 5 pieces of (general) advice: